Nevermore
by Flaming Tigress Mage
Summary: Blue often finds herself in the worlds of never-have-beens. No spoilers past Vol 12 of the manga unless you squint hard enough, Japanese names


Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

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Blue often finds herself in the worlds of never-have-beens.

She was introduced to these dreams one night, after a carefully-begged fairytale from Chermaine, when the older girl sat down and told her the tale of Rumpelstiltsken. Blue listened attentively from beginning to end, before asking Chermaine, "What if she hadn't made the last deal with Rumpelstiltsken? Would the king really have killed her?"

"Perhaps," Chermaine answered, smiling under her mask. "Leaders have to keep their words. But then again, he might have just sent her home in disgrace after getting two roomfuls of gold if she could spin a good enough tale of her own. Kings are funny that way."

_(Once in a castle far, far away, a princess was never born, and the kingdom mourned.)_

"But what _would_ have happened?" Blue demanded. "Would he just keep her locked up until she gave him another room of gold, or kill her, or send her home? And what would have happened to Rumpelstiltsken?"

"I don't know, girl! The story of what happened to the girl who couldn't spin the last room into gold has never been written. Neither has that of the con man whose trick didn't take. Those kinds of stories happen every day, so there are millions of different answers." Having satisfied Blue's curiosity, Chermaine swept out of the room, heading back to work. (Blue treasures that story, as it was the first and last bit of compassion and frivolity she ever got from Chermaine. She also bases her way of living on it – if you're going to pull off a con job on someone, don't get caught at the last moment.)

_(In the silence of the woods, Little Red Riding Hood never doubted the wolf's word and was never eaten right then and there.)_

Blue knows from Chermaine that the kind of stories she wants to know about aren't written down in any book – not the story of what will happen to her and Silver, nor the story of whether or not the Mask of Ice will ever be defeated. For the life of her, she cannot decide if he is the witch or dragon in the fairy tales. The way Chermaine or even, god forbid, Keane would tell it the Mask of Ice would be the hero, and this lie on top of all the others Blue has heard or told her entire life she _cannot_ stand, so she never asks. Instead, she realizes that she has to find out the never-been-written stories by herself, that live in the worlds of the never-have-beens.

_(In a story that never has been written, a prince cries for Rapunzel to let down her hair, and waits for hours, never realizing that the witch has left with the princess.)_

Blue is an expert in figuring out the never-have-beens in a situation, how they came to pass, and how to avoid them. The first time she demonstrates this, Mask of Ice calls her an excellent planner and gives her more freedom in planning missions. He is pleased with the way Blue can look into the future and anticipate problems. Only Silver knows that Blue spends far more time dreaming of the never-have-beens in their past lives and in their stories than in their futures.

_(Once upon a never-time, the ugly duckling got pecked to death by his brothers and sisters before he could ever dream of becoming a beautiful swan.)_

Mask of Ice never picked children merely because they were at the age that he wanted; he always looked for children who were brilliant, or who were from families who had a history of producing geniuses, or children who stood out even from an exceptionally young age. Unfortunately, he never realized exactly how brilliant his children could be when they put their minds to it. He never used the five-year-old Blue for anything which kept her fully occupied, and so never kept her from dreaming of the never-has-been of freedom and escape. Blue used this to her advantage, coming up with the never-written but known fact that Mask of Ice always needed to recuperate on certain days and the never-told story of using all her wits to escape with Silver from the other Masked Children. It also nearly was the death of her plan, as she was almost paralyzed from knowing all the never-happened possibilities that occurred if they were caught.

_(A prince rides to awaken Snow White from her eternal sleep, but perhaps the dwarves, fearing another guise of the witch, could hack him to pieces before he ever gets close: his story is never told.)_

Once she was on the outside, Blue used her ability to figure out the never-have-beens for staying free and comfortable. Blue notices the never-mentioned chance that Team Rocket could leave something expensive unguarded long enough for an enterprising girl to take possession, sees the slight similarity in face to bet on the never-going-to-happen chance that the short Rocket who defended her from the others is actually Red, counts on the never-told way things are going to happen to trick people out of their belongings, and feels wonderful the whole time while her plans work. She also reaches new levels of paranoia from the thoughts that _that_ shadow could be the never-done end via a Rocket, trying to kill her, or _that_ rustle could be the never-seen story of her being caught by a hiding Masked Child and taken back to Mask of Ice. (From this paranoia, she hides the feathers she took on another person as soon as she can.)

_(Once upon a never-time Blue and Silver never made it away from the Masked Children and were punished, remaining Masked Children; once upon a never-time Blue abandoned Silver's need for a big sister to take care of herself and while she made it out it was Silver who caught her and brought her back within days for his big sister Karen; once upon a never-time Blue hadn't found her wonderful little brother of Silver but instead a mindless sycophant who followed his father-figure's words to the letter and slowly wore her individual resolve down; once upon a never-time Blue never really _lived._)_

Slowly, however, her companions manage to wear Blue's cynicism down a bit. Not Green – although he's lightened up over the years, he always manages to support her inner cynic. (He also supports her outer cynic, and her inner and outer more vulnerable selves, and for this Blue could kiss him, though also just to see Silver's reaction.) No, when she stays around people like Red and Yellow, Blue can't help but begin to dream of all the happier never-have-beens that might have occurred. Their optimistic natures and friendliness can even convince Blue that despite all the pretty images of the never-have-beens, the has-happened story is worth everything.

_(Once in a story that they never wrote, the prince catches Cinderella's hand on the way out; despite his courtiers' shock at the servant girl before them, he wastes no time in marrying her.)_

Blue looks at Red and Yellow, and sees the never-happening of their courtship slowly unfolding before her eyes with her prodding. She watches Silver and takes comfort that even in the never-dreamt-of story of him finally leaving the nest, he still cares dearly for her. She plays around with her friends, and starts to ignore the never-told possibility that someone is going to jump on her the instant she lets her guard down.

_(In an ending that was never told, the princess never wondered what the spinner was and never pricked her finger.)_

Blue does not actively plan for catastrophe anymore – although it is taken into account, Blue dreams of the best possibilities, the never-have-beens that become could-be-instincts, and finally letting herself believe that her king will find a way to save her from the funny-named dwarf and let her keep the gold as well.

_(Once upon a never-time, Blue and Silver were never kidnapped and knew their families; once upon a never-time the other Masked Children joined them and they banded together against and defeated the Mask of Ice; once upon a never-time the Mask of Ice was a kind person who had only rescued them from bad people; once upon a never-time they all lived happily ever after.)_

What Blue forgets is that she is not the princess who spun straw into gold, she is not the girl who had a man follow the dwarf and learn his name. Blue forgets that in her dreams of the beautiful never-have-beens that always turn into could-have-beens in her mind (dangerous, dangerous) that she is living a has-happened life, that _both_ the stories of people who turned out miserable _and_ the people who had minimal adversity in their lives were never written, and Blue's life is being written every day.

No, Blue often finds herself in the worlds of the never-have-beens, and allows the indulgence of dreaming about the good without having nightmares about the bad. And after working so hard to protect her friends from the never-have-been disasters, Blue is horrified when _anything_ that she should have seen in the never-have-beens occurs. Blue is finally jolted back to reality at that time; no matter how optimistic or kind Red and Yellow and Green are, it is in Silver, who knows that unwisely, she spends more time dreaming about the never-have-beens in their lives and stories than those of the future, that she should place her trust.

Once upon a never-time that became a true-time, Rumpelstiltsken lied about his name to the wandering man. When he came on the last day, he left with a squalling child.

Whether she is princess, con-man, or babe, Blue will never say, but secretly, she knows she is all three.

_(Once upon a never-time, a never-told true tale occurred, and showed that _all_ of the never-written stories were real.)_


End file.
